The Meiklejohn Peer Advising program will expand next semester to include the Code Advising Meiklejohn Program, an initiative aimed at helping advisees navigate the disciplinary process.
The subprogram will “deal directly with issues related to the Student Code of Conduct and the Academic Code,” said Abi Kulshreshtha ’15, a member of the Meiklejohn Leadership Committee. CAMP will act as a “peer resource to students undergoing disciplinary procedures” and will offer “general advice on the process,” he added.
Applications for the new program are due Dec. 5, and Meiklejohns who participate will complete a Jan. 20 training in code violation expectations and procedures run by the dean of the College office.
The program will attempt to “fill the void that students have felt” exists in the advising system, said Joey Sacks ’15, another member of the Meiklejohn Leadership Committee. It will ideally act as a way for “students to seek shelter away from University Hall,” he added.
Meiklejohns in the program will only be permitted to help advisees understand the language and meaning of the codes — they will not be allowed to recommend courses of action, Sacks added.
CAMP is currently working with administrators in the dean of the College office and reaching out to the Office of Student Life, Kulshreshtha said.
The program hopes to build off the work of the Student Conduct Information Service, a student group with a similar mission that recently disbanded, he said.
But there are certain limitations facing the program due to issues of confidentiality, which can prevent students from sharing case specifics, he added.
CAMP marks the second recent expansion to the Meiklejohn program. The Department Meiklejohn program, which offers pre-concentration advising to sophomores, was introduced this semester to go “past the first-year experience,” Sacks said.
Both programs seek to “tackle specific advising needs that the Brown community is calling for,” Kulshreshtha said.
Students offered mixed reactions to the Code Advising Meiklejohn Program.
Eliza Lanzillo ’16 said that by sophomore year, students “have fallen into social groups” and “found their own mechanisms of support,” making the program less necessary. But she added that “the program is missing a mental health component,” noting that she wished Meiklejohns in the program would provide advice on mental health in addition to disciplinary proceedings.
But Connor Flexman ’16 said some students have “large holes in their knowledge of” the Student Code of Conduct and the Academic Code, and the program could help educate them.
Clare Peabody ’18 echoed this, noting that many professors and advisors assume students are familiar with these codes, when in reality this is often not the case. She added that increasing student awareness of the codes is “not a focus of the advising process.”
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